The Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) is due to meet the military regime today to present ways to strengthen the Thai rice industry and help farmers as part of an overall agriculture reform plan.
The rice reform proposals include setting up a board charged with overseeing the country's rice management system, exploring ways to cut farm production costs and ramping up research and development (R&D) of modern farming techniques.
The plans are estimated to need an annual supporting budget of 20 billion baht.
The proposals come from an array of stakeholders such as farmers, millers, exporters and academics.
TCC chairman Isara Vongkusolkit said the new strategy would focus on farmers and their needs, mainly through modern farm management, productivity enhancements and value added to farm products.
Thailand has an estimated 17 million farmers, representing 43% of the country's workforce and 24% of the country's population.
Of a nationwide cultivated area of 149 million rai, rice plantation makes up 70 million rai, about 43 million of which is designated as appropriate or moderately appropriate for rice cultivation.
The remaining 27 million rai is less appropriate or inappropriate and could be shifted to growing other crops that offer higher yields.
TCC vice-chairman Vichai Assarasakorn said the time wass ripe for change and adoption of a new rice strategy, with the plight of farmers as the main focus.
"Thailand's rice production cost is now as high as 9,266 baht a tonne, much higher than 4,000 baht a tonne in Myanmar and 5,000 baht a tonne in Vietnam," he said.
"That's why Thai farmers and Thai rice cannot compete in the world market, and that's why the farmers earn less profit."
More investment in R&D and a crop insurance scheme are also essential if the new strategy is to create value and provide coverage in the event of natural disasters.
Mr Vichai said a special fund dedicated to rice development and rice farmers was desperately needed to raise the quality of farmers' lives.
The chamber proposes the fund receive support through a fee to be charged on rice exporters at a rate of 1% of rice export value and a surcharge that rice exporters now pay for rice shipments under the EU's quota.
Under the current structure, Thai exporters that buy rice from millers for export are subject to tax at 0.75% of their rice's export value.
Meanwhile, the EU now grants Thailand a quota of 20,000 tonnes of rice tariff-free, but rice exporters must pay a surcharge of 2,500 baht a tonne to the Commerce Ministry.
Source - http://www.bangkokpost.com/
